By Craig Dunn
Logan Daily News

 IRONTON — Truth be known, Ralph Robinson was in the proverbial right place at the right time Friday night... even though he really wasn't supposed to be.
With the Logan Chieftains trailing 7-0 in their Southeastern Ohio Athletic League showdown at Ironton, Robinson sort of took things into his own hands when he blocked an Fighting Tigers punt that eventually led to the tying touchdown.

"I actually didn't do my assignment,” he admitted. “I'm supposed to have a contained rush and, well, thank goodness I just blocked the punt and (the Tigers) didn't run outside me.

"I wasn't supposed to be blocking that punt,” he added. “But sometimes you have to take chances to get the team fired up... and I think that was one of them.”

So true.

The Chiefs tied the score two minutes later, then finally broke through with a couple touchdowns in the final five minutes of the game to overhaul the Fighting Tigers 21-7 in Tanks Memorial Stadium.

The Chiefs got everything they expected (and more) from the I-Tigers, but still managed to remained undefeated (5-0) and claim the school's 30th-straight SEOAL victory over the school that holds the record (34) in the process.

"The last time we came down here it was 7-0 (a Logan win in 2006), and anytime you play down here it's going to be a tough, tough game,” Logan coach Dale Amyx said. “That's just Ironton. This is a football town. They have that tradition.”

One of those traditions is the Tigers' wily veteran head coach, Bob Lutz, who designed a defensive scheme that had the Chiefs scratching their heads for more than a half.

Ironton held the Purple & White scoreless in the first half for the first time this season, then used its vaunted running game to put together a nine-play, 74-yard drive that put the Tigers ahead 7-0 at the intermission.

Ironton defensed the Chiefs “better than anybody I've seen in a long time,” said Amyx. “We have to look at that film and come up with some ways to attack that. And I think we did in the second half... but that first half, we were hurting.

“We had time (to throw) in the pocket, but there was no one to throw it to,” he added. “Now I'd like to see (Logan quarterback Patrick Angle) take off and run a little bit more. We told him at halftime to get out there and run the ball (and he did) and that was by design.”

The Chiefs had a touchdown pass from Angle to Mason Mays called back in the first two minutes of the game, then Derek Montgomery missed a 32-yard field goal off the rain-slicked Tanks Memorial Stadium turf.

But the Chiefs, who are so used to shaking off a bad possession and and coming back to score, came up empty on three more offensive possessions in the first half.

"I was really proud of our kids — we played through some adversity tonight,” Amyx noted. “We've seen it all year: it's almost like if we don't score here, we'll score on the next (possession), and when we don't...”

Actually, there usually isn't a “when we don't.”

After holding Ironton (3-2 overall, 1-1 SEOAL) to minus-11 yards in the first quarter, the Logan defense was knocked back on its heels by the Fighting Tigers in the second period, particularly on their scoring drive, capped off on a 2-yard touchdown run by Brian Warner after fellow running back J.P. Taylor picked up some tough yards along the way.

Despite trailing at the intermission, Amyx said the Chiefs weren't down.

"I thought we played great (on defense,)” he said. “They had that one drive — and I blame myself more than anything else because they kept throwing that sweep. We should have slanted over to it. But I was stubborn because I thought it was going to go up the middle. And then they score.

"But the kids did well as far as adjustments at halftime,” he added. “You're not going to go through a season when you're not behind in a game or where you don't have to battle back from behind or fight through adversity or penalties. This was a ballgame for that. And the thing I really liked about our kids is that when we went in at halftime everybody was upbeat, everybody was talking, making adjustments and had questions and suggestions — I'm talking players now — and they went out and executed. It was a good communication between the coaches and the players.

“We also did a better job tackling... we were over-pursuing and a couple times they cut it back on us.”

Logan drove deep into Ironton territory to start the second half but turned the ball over at the Ironton 27 on a fumble. But after the Chiefs forced the Tigers to punt, Robinson and Ryan Sigler broke through, with Robinson blocking Ethan Preston's kick and Sigler picking up a few yards after recovering the ball.

Then it looked like the same old Chiefs. Angle hit Jordan Rutter with a 19-yard pass-and-run to the Ironton 2, and Zach McDaniel scored on the next play with 6:45 left in the third period. Logan pulled even on Montgomery's successful placement kick.

"That was big,” Amyx said. “We had already had some momentum (off the deep drive to open the half), then that gave us even more right there.”

It remained 7-7 until midway through the fourth quarter. Logan's defense had stiffened and all but shut down the Ironton running game — the Tigers got only three first downs in the second half, and never got any closer than the Logan 37-yard line — and it seemed like it was only going to be a matter of time before the Chiefs broke through.

"Our defense buckled down in that second half,” Robinson said. “We shut them down in the first quarter, then in the second quarter we got lost in some assignments a couple times. But we got those fixed at halftime, came out with a good game plan, and they couldn't stop it.

“We started tackling, forcing fumbles and blocking punts. Making plays,” he added. “That's what Logan football is all about."

Logan took over at the Ironton 49 with 5:32 remaining, and soon afterward the Chiefs were ahead to stay.

Michael Snider rushed for five yards and Angle connected with Rutter with a 10-yard play to the Ironton 34, then Mays went deep, beating two Ironton defenders who bit on Angle's pump fake, and the Logan signal-caller hooked up with his step-brother on a perfect pass in the end zone to complete a game-breaking 34-yard touchdown pass.

Logan missed the extra point, but in the end it didn't hurt the Chiefs.

Ironton, which didn't throw its first pass of the night until the 5:42 mark of the final period, went into its bag of tricks and tried a halfback option pass on second down. Taylor had a receiver open behind the Logan defense, but the underthrown pass was dropped.

Ironton got a first down by converting a fourth-and-three run, but on the next play Preston went deep and hit a player in stride. Problem was, however, it was Angle, who made a terrific running, twisting interception to all but end Ironton's hopes of pulling off an upset.

Two plays later, McDaniel broke a quick-hitter up the middle, cut down the left side and went nearly untouched for 57 yards and a touchdown with 1:56 to play. As he was catching the ensuing 2-point conversion pass from Angle, Ironton fans began heading for the exits.

"There was always that aura on the sidelines that we were going to get out of this (deficit), that we were going to fight our way through and come back,” Amyx said. “And then when we got that first score, then yeah, (the feeling was) now we're going to go. Then the defense got stiffer and we shut them down.

"I give (Ironton) a lot of credit,” he added. “They had a great defensive game plan against us. Offensively, they did just what we knew they were going to do, but defensively they had a great scheme and I thought coach (Kelly) Wolfe and everybody on offense made great adjustments to it in the second half. We finally got some receivers open and we started running the ball, too.”

"We did some things where we stacked the receivers a little more and give (the Tigers) some different looks and ran a couple empty sets on them... but I tell you, they had a great game plan.”

Now that they're finally finished with the first half of the season, in which they played four of their first five games on the road — including their likely final-ever game at Ironton — the Purple & White can now look forward to finishing the regular season by playing four of their last five at home.

But three of their final five foes are still undefeated, including Zanesville, next Friday night's opponent in Logan Chieftain Stadium, which is now 5-0 after bombing Lisbon Beaver 49-7 last night.

“We've got a lot of tough games left,” Amyx said. “Jackson and Warren are unbeaten, and so is Zanesville, too. Zanesville's going to be a tough one next week. We're going to have games like this... and we learned some things about our team tonight.”

Robinson fully agreed with his coach.

“I think we showed we can play with anybody tonight,” he said. “I truly believe that."